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The squawking began after ESPN’s Mike Sando ranked the NFL’s starting quarterbacks.

Sando has always approached the game from unique and creative angles, and he’s a good guy as well. To come up with his latest ranking, Sando queried 26 different NFL former and current general managers, head coaches, coordinators, personnel directors and a top executive. He asked them whether a particular quarterback deserved to be in the first, second, third, fourth of fifth tier. He then established a spreadsheet ranking the quarterbacks according to the tiered position.

Colin Kaepernick. (AP)

San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick ranked 14th overall and was in the second tier. He did not receive any first tier votes. The Kaepernick breakdown went like this:

First tier — 0

Second tier — 14

Third tier — 11

Fourth tier — 1

Fifth tier — 0

Many would consider Kaepernick to be higher than 14th overall; he may have been down-graded because of his running ability. Carolina’s rambling Cam Newton, for example, was a solid third tier quarterback, which many thought was excessively low.

And of course, when considering NFL rankings, 49ers’ fans always want to know about the Seattle guy. Russell Wilson bested Kaepernick in the ranking after receiving 3 top tier votes, 14 second tier, 9 third tier and one fourth tier vote. That’s what winning a Super Bowl does for you.

Kaepernick did rank higher than former mentor Alex Smith, who checked in at 17th overall.

Nevertheless, any evaluation of Kaepernick is tricky. His running ability is hard to figure – defenses have to account for it and his speed can result in big plays. However, does his running diminish his passing? We have all seen Kaepernick flee the pocket rather than finish progressing through his second- and third-options.